CME Group to launch APAC-specific reference rates for bitcoin and ether
“As we continue to see more institutional clients use our Bitcoin and Ether futures products in active portfolios or structured products like ETFs, these APAC reference rates will allow market participants to more accurately and precisely hedge cryptocurrency price risk with timing more closely aligned to their portfolios.”
CME Group plans to launch two new APAC-specific reference rates for bitcoin and ether on September 11 in partnership with CF Benchmarks, the leading derivatives marketplace announced.
CF Benchmarks is a renowned provider of cryptocurrency benchmark indices and long-time partner of CME Group, having recently gone live with event contracts on Bitcoin Futures.
Daily reference rate for the U.S. dollar price of Bitcoin and Ether
Now, the two new APAC-specific reference rates will provide a once-a-day reference rate for the U.S. dollar price of the two digital assets, published at 4 p.m. Hong Kong/Singapore time.
The two reference rates are:
- CME CF Bitcoin Reference Rate APAC (BRRAP)
- CME CF Ether-Dollar Reference Rate APAC (ETHUSD_AP)
These non-tradable reference rates will complement the existing CME CF Bitcoin Reference Rate (BRR) and CME CF-Ether Dollar Reference Rate (ETHUSD_RR), published at 4 p.m. London time, as well as the recently introduced CME CF Bitcoin Reference Rate New York (BRRNY) and CME CF Ether-Dollar Reference Rate New York (ETHUSD_NY), published at 4 p.m. New York time.
The BRR and ETHUS RR will continue to serve as the benchmark rates for settlement of all CME Group Bitcoin futures, Micro Bitcoin futures and Ether futures and Micro Ether futures contracts.
“Crypto adoption continues apace”
Giovanni Vicioso, Global Head of Cryptocurrency Products at CME Group, commented: “These new reference rates are designed to meet the ever-evolving needs of global participants in the growing digital asset space. Year-to-date, 37% of total crypto volume at CME Group has been traded during non-U.S. hours, with 11% of trades coming from the APAC region. As we continue to see more institutional clients use our Bitcoin and Ether futures products in active portfolios or structured products like ETFs, these APAC reference rates will allow market participants to more accurately and precisely hedge cryptocurrency price risk with timing more closely aligned to their portfolios.”
Sui Chung, CEO of CF Benchmarks, said: “Crypto adoption continues apace and CF Benchmarks is delighted to facilitate financial institutions in providing regulated financial products to Asian markets with the introduction of APAC variants to our market defining Bitcoin Reference Rate and Ether-Dollar Reference Rate. As variants these benchmarks will be calculated and administered to the same exacting standards enjoyed by their existing London and New York counterparts, which have done so much to build investor and institutional confidence in crypto financial products.”
